Charges Expected To Be Filed In Connection With Fall River Pool Death

FALL RIVER (CBS) – The state plans to file criminal charges against two former DCR employees who were in charge of a state-run pool in Fall River where a woman drowned this summer.

Former DCR Regional Director Brian Shanahan and former DCR District Manager Jeff Carter will face charges for reckless endangerment of a child after a judge overturned a November ruling that cleared them in the case.

The water in the pool was so cloudy that her body wasn’t discovered until two days after she drowned in the pool, despite the fact that the pool was open to the public both days.

Investigators say because of water cloudiness in the days following Joseph’s disappearance, the pool should not have been opened.

The D.A. investigation showed visibility was only four feet, not good enough to meet Department of Public Health standards.

The District Attorney’s report says that while procedure was ignored in what investigators deemed a systemic breakdown, there is no plan to file criminal charges that would relate directly to Joseph’s death.

For those charges, prosecutors would have to prove that the death was a result of “reckless” actions of a specific person, and without those actions, the death would not have occurred.

The report says that it was believed that Joseph did not know how to swim. She disappeared after going down a slide into the 12-foot deep end of the pool.